jigsaw
by waterinks
Summary: Canon. the four parts were needed to make a whole. but sasuke was gone, kakashi was missing, naruto was too eager to piece them back together and sakura had misplaced the glue. team 7.


**Title:** Together  
**Author: **Kelly1910  
**Pairings:** Slight Sasuke/Sakura. Team 7 Friendship.  
**Categories:** Friendship/Angst  
**Rating:** T  
**Author's Notes: **Takes place after episode 101 and the first movie and before the Land of Tea arc and Sasuke's departure.  
My first venture into Naruto fanfiction. Recent manga chapters have provoked me into writing some Team Seven stuff. You gotta love them. Lots of run-on sentences and grammar rules are bent. My English teacher would _kill _me if she read this. Haha, but she never will! Hopefully!  
Anyway, Sakura's point of view. I've taken great liberties with the timescale between events. I did read somewhere that the movie took place between Episode 101 and 102, so this takes place after the movie obviously. I may have made a mess of some of the quotes, my memory ain't that good, but they served their purpose well.  
Sakura may seem a little deep here but come on, she's a ninja! She must learn to look 'underneath the underneath', after all.  
In other news: I've decided that **Let Me Go** and **Here Without You** by _Three Doors Down _are the ultimate _**SasuSaku** _songs. They're my OTP.  
Enjoy, please review!

Dedicated to Team 7, who are very much missed and if Kishi knows what's good for him, he'll get Sasuke back to Konoha, pronto!

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto, Team Seven or anything else.

* * *

_Together._

One word that Sakura Haruno had always attributed to Team Seven. _Her _team. And Naruto's. And Sasuke's. And Kakashi's. It was theirs. And no one else's.

They each added their own little contributions. Naruto added his exuberance and perseverance and belief and _dreams_. He gave them something to fight for. Sasuke; his skill and determination and quiet support. He had brought together their team-work right from the beginning. And Kakashi-sensei. Their powerful, _brilliant_ teacher. Forever late and 'getting lost on the road of life'. But for all his laziness and half-baked excuses, he was the best teacher they could have hoped for. He was flawed and had a strange sense of humour—after all, his nose was never out of that orange book—but it was those quirks and mannerisms which made him human. And despite what the rulebook says,--_but since when did Team Seven ever follow the rules anyway?—_all ninja are human. They can laugh and cry and love and hate—_most definitely hate_—and they can die. Somewhere along the line they forgot to mention that ninja can _live _as well. The rulebook, that Sakura can recite backwards, in alphabetical order and blindfolded, states that emotions can cripple a ninja, weaken them. It is the truth, of course. But that never stopped Naruto. Or her to a certain extent. Sasuke, however...

She would never tell him this, even under intense torture by ANBU, but sometimes, after he would insult her or Naruto or both of them, a word would filter through her mind.

_Hypocrite._

He would keep them at arms length, keep _her _at arms length—_you're annoying—_and he would preach about how weak and foolish they were for having emotions and showing them. And yet...he lets his hatred for his brother rule him at times. It would fuel him in the way that food and chakra fuels the body. And he would _forget_. Forget them and everything that Team Seven stands for--Teamwork and loyalty and friendship and _togetherness. _He would forget that hate is as much an emotion as love is. Yet to him, one is seen as a strength and the other, a weakness. Sasuke Uchiha is a hypocrite and a fool and as much as she loves him, she knows that she will _never _understand him. And sometimes, in the deepest corners of her mind, even further than where her inner self resides, Sakura could hear the words—_Well you know what, Sasuke? You're every bit annoying as I am._ It was times like those that she felt heat bubbling in her chest and she actually hated the boy she loved. The irony was bittersweet and tangy on her tongue. But the moment would be forgotten and her Inner self would scream obscenities at her for even thinking that—_You idiot! You've probably jinxed the relationship before it's even started!_—she could do anything but love Sasuke Uchiha.

A few weeks after the Chuunin Exams, Naruto had moaned about the special treatment that Sasuke had received from their teacher, as they sat over steaming bowls of ramen. It was just him and her. She ended up paying but that was nothing new. At the time, she had given him the customary whack upside the head and he had tried to duck on reflex. But hours later, after she had waved the blond boy off and had fallen into her bed, Sakura thought over his words. Sure, Naruto was jealous of their teacher's relationship with Sasuke and she knew that Kakashi had trained the Uchiha over the month before the final exam to improve his Sharingan and teach him the powerful Chidori technique but...Naruto's words rang true. Their teacher did favour Sasuke, for reasons that were beyond her. Maybe he saw himself in the boy? She didn't know but...it was another of the Copy Ninja's faults. She couldn't help but find it slightly cruel. Not in an evil way. Not in a massacre-your-whole-clan-in front-of-your-kid-brother-way. No, it was just cruel. She felt could imagine how dejected Naruto would have been. He had been deprived of such things all his life and then for Kakashi to knock him down like that...it must have been so painful, even if he had hidden it beneath layers of goofy disappointment.

But if she wasn't mistaken, their sensei had been part of ANBU at a young age so he'd probably witnessed enough horrors to last him several lifetimes and this meant that she was the only member of Team Seven who did not have severe mental scars--_Jeez, they should just scrap the name Team Seven and call them, 'Sakura and her band of Misfits.'_

At times though, Sakura found it easier to not think about everything her teammates had been through in the past. And as selfish as it sounds, the concept of ignorance is bliss worked...most of time. But when the past came and snapped at their heels, it was a sharp reminder of the real world. The biggest impact was of course when Sasuke's older brother came to the village and caused havoc with her teammate's mind. Other times, the more subtle ones, were less sharp but could hurt and rock the foundations of Team Seven just as much.

_A disgusted glare on a beautiful day, directed towards the 'demon brat', causing the blond's smile to falter and his ocean blue eyes to dim and sometime later the sky would become overcast and the day was ruined._

_And when onyx eyes darken beyond comprehension and their owner broods and angsts and wallows in his own misery, snaps at his teammates more than he needs to and proceeds to stare at the four walls of his apartment for hours and hours until Kakashi appears on his windowsill, his cheery drawl giving away none of the concern shown in his eye. It would rain then._

She would never understand their pain. The lonely childhood that she hadn't endured. Sure, she had been teased about her forehead as a kid but after meeting Ino, she had been able to build up her walls of confidence and as much as a rival that the blonde haired girl was, Sakura would be eternally grateful to her. Her teammates, however, hadn't had such comfort or security. They didn't have parents or a family and had clawed their way through the majority of their childhood—_You wouldn't understand_—Sasuke had been right, she would never understand because she had parents who loved her and were proud of her and encouraged her to do the best she could. And if she hadn't had that support, she probably would have dropped out of the academy by the second year.

Her teammates were strong. Stronger than she could ever be, in body and mind. Her boys. She liked to think that over the many months that they had been a team, that they maybe thought of her as a friend, more than a teammate now. Someone they _want_ to protect more than _need _to. Sure, Naruto was still annoying and persistent and forever antagonising Sasuke—but maybe she was warming to him, maybe. Maybe she could consider him a friend. A loyal teammate. A brother-in-arms. Someone to protect if the occasion called for it. The future Hokage—_okay well maybe he can dream._ But she had grown to respect him and that dream of his. And maybe, just maybe, he might get there someday.

Sasuke? A friend? She liked to pretend sometimes, like all girls with crushes do, that the fleeting glances he sent her were a lot more meaningful than they really were and 'annoying' was another way of saying, 'I love you'. But he was _still_ turning down her _offersbegspleas _for a date. So, she had watched him, observed his actions throughout their time as teammates. In the beginning, she simply watched him because she could and she wanted to. He was rather pleasing to the eye after all. But after their mission in the Land of Waves, she had looked into his actions in a more analytical than drooling manner. Slowly but surely, he had changed. His actions during the Chuunin exams and the Forest of Death assured that and also when he commented--it was too much to say he complimented--her on her analytical skills and chakra control. He was still cold and overly unfriendly but as she had watched him hand over the signed autograph to Naruto just the other day and last week; his own childish, innocent curiosity at the mystery that was the lower part of Kakashi-sensei's face, she had realised something. He was just a kid. A boy, not even a teenager, forced to grow up too fast and he had lived in this world with nobody to care for him for so long. His psycho brother was still prowling around of course but she had no doubt that Sasuke would get his revenge—_I'm an avenger, Sakura_--An avenger, indeed.

Over the same bowl of ramen in the following weeks of the Chuunin Exams, Naruto had been drooling and talking and munching and drooling some more. Something that came out as he spoke, garbled and twisted between noodles caused Sakura to freeze and ask him to repeat. After a few moments of choking and hacking and a rather impatient smack on the back from her, he had relayed his comment. _Sasuke said something about us, Team 7, during the fight against Gaara. You were unconscious, Sakura-chan, so you missed the whole thing. He said, "You are my precious comrades, my best friends, and I can't stand by and watch everyone precious to me die. Not again." Or something like that anyway, and then he went on and did this dumb speech like it was his last words or something and told me that I had to save you no matter what. Bastard, like he needed to tell me that. Anyway, what'd you make of it? I think we're finally rubbing off on him. Ha! Jerk._

She remembered giggling girlishly and her Inner self was whooping all over the joint. But...if Sasuke had actually said that--seeing as Naruto wasn't the most reliable of sources and she could recall him getting banged on the head a few times on the day of the battle—then that meant that they _do _mean something to him. That _she _means something to him. She was worthy of being called his friend. And she would cherish his friendship more than anything in the world. More than Naruto's? If this question had been posed to her last year then she would have answered with a quick, "Are you stupid? Of course, Naruto's a loser and Sasuke's just..." Insert romantic sigh here. But since this is not last year and this is now and she is a genin and she is part of Team Seven and she is friends with Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha and if you asked her if she valued one friendship over the other then she probably wouldn't be able to answer. Sure, if it was in terms of love then Sasuke would win hands down and Naruto would live up to his 'dead-last' reputation, but friendship? Friendship meant a lot more to Sakura than she would ever let on.

Sometimes she wondered how many times over she would have died if it wasn't for Sasuke and Naruto or even Kakashi. Sometimes she would wonder if she had ever saved them from death or defeat. There was that time she stalled Orochimaru's ninja from taking advantage of Sasuke's unconscious state in the Forest of Death, unwittingly leading to her new found sense of self-worth and the loss of a good few inches of hair. As mourned as it may be, it still felt good to rile Ino up as much as it did. And then there was that time she leapt recklessly in front of Sasuke and saved him from being torn apart by Gaara's claws. Maybe she had saved the team a few times. Not as many times as the boys did. Nowhere near as much as they did. But at least she wasn't entirely useless. Maybe Sasuke will notice that one day. Maybe.

However, after Itachi's return it seemed like everything that they had built up with Sasuke had come tumbling down and he had forced himself back into that carefully preserved shell. It was twice as hard as Gaara's sand shell because instead of sand surrounding and enclosing him, it was his utter hatred for his brother - there was simply no room for anything else. She still didn't know the full details of what had happened that day between Naruto, Sasuke and Itachi since her teammates wouldn't talk about it and she hadn't had the pleasure of a conversation with the clan-murderer. Not that that was in her '100 things to do before I Die' list anyway. Maybe Naruto would tell her, since the chances of Sasuke telling her weren't even worth mentioning nor were the chances of her running into his brother.

And now, it was more often than not that she would see Sasuke staring off into the distance with a frown marring his face and she would feel her stomach twist and she would ask him if everything was alright and he would snap out of his reverie as if he had been struck—_or poked in the forehead_—and he would shrug her off and tell her to go train and be useful to the team. She would watch him walk away, the red and white fan moving further and further away and out of her reach. The burning behind her eyes would cease after a few minutes. She hated when she cried in front of him. She did it often enough. No wonder she was deemed the 'weak' one. She hardly did anything to deny the accusation.

Damn Itachi. Why did he have to bring so much torment to his younger brother? Wasn't it enough that he had taken every family member Sasuke had? Every piece of happiness? Itachi Uchiha must be insane, she'd decided, or at the very least, a sadist.

However, Naruto and Sasuke's friendship was strong. A lot stronger than the one she had with either of them. They were rivals and sometimes it seemed like they hated eachother but she didn't believe that for one minute. They had risked their lives for eachother just as much as they had risked them for her. Sasuke had almost died after protecting Naruto from Haku in the Wave Country and for those few moments, he had forgotten about revenge and Itachi and had been focused only on saving his friend. They were rivals in every way but they were also best friends. Even if they didn't know it yet. To her, Naruto was more of a brother to Sasuke than Itachi would ever be.

And it was those bonds that would keep Team 7 together.

It would always be the four of them. Naruto. Sakura. Sasuke. And their Kakashi-sensei.

Always.

...right?

* * *

She lifted her head and stared at the trees overhead from her place on the bench. It was late and the stars were out and the streets were deserted. She could hear an owl in a nearby tree and a dog barking somewhere in the distance. She wondered absently if she would be able to pinpoint its location if she had the byakuugan. Most probably.

A gentle breeze moved along the road that lead to the front gates of the Hidden Leaf village. Her pink tendrils moved and fluttered around her face and she opened her eyes to stare at the sky. Sometimes she thought that the Gods were out to mock her. After all, she was _Sakura_, with the _pink _hair and the crazy crush on the unattainable Uchiha avenger. She sighed and adjusted her forehead protector--that she still wore as a headband.

Team Seven had enjoyed supper at Ichiraku's—paid for grudgingly by their sensei—and now everyone had gone their separate ways. Naruto and Sasuke to their respective apartments and Sakura to her house. She didn't know where Kakashi went but she guessed he had gone home to his apartment as well.

She had walked along her street, alone, since the boys—_her _boys—all lived closer to ramen joint. She hadn't been able to see her house yet and she had wondered what Sasuke and Naruto were doing. Maybe Sasuke would be in the shower or maybe he was sitting on his window sill watching the stars. And maybe Naruto couldn't get his door open and had resorted to kicking it and was now getting hit over the head by the old lady next door. Or maybe he had just fallen sideways into his bed, still dressed in his orange jumpsuit and was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Sakura had known what waited for her at home. Her mother would be sitting by the clock awaiting her return from the mission—a pointless D-rank that she didn't care to elaborate on—and her father would be in the study, reading most probably.

However, her teammates didn't have anyone waiting on them at home. No one waiting to hear about their day and to sigh in sympathy at any misfortunes they had come upon and to laugh at something humorous that had occurred. There would be no one there to fuss over them and run to get the medical kit to heal that cut-that-was-more-like-a-scratch-but-mother-knows-best-so-don't-interrupt. She had wondered if Sasuke would have sighed and scoffed and brushed them off. And if Naruto would have laughed and then hugged them tightly because they had been worried when there was no reason to be. However, harsh reality dictated that no one would be there. No one would ever be there. Unless Itachi was waiting for Sasuke in the dark like the psycho that he was; (which she wouldn't put past him but she just _really _didn't want to think about that since it might cause her to become worried and go over to Sasuke's flat and peer in the windows to make sure that he was ok. Sasuke, being the brilliantly skilled ninja that he was, would sense her presence and then probably think she was stalking him or something. She wouldn't put that past herself, either). However, stalking and deranged brothers aside, Sakura knew that all that waited for her boys at home were dark, quiet apartments. Tonight, anyway.

She couldn't decide who had it the worst. Sasuke who had once had that love and attention and concern but had it ripped away abruptly by someone he had loved or Naruto...who'd never had such attention at all.

It was this train of thought that had caused Sakura to walk past her front door completely and continue on through the village until she had found herself at the stone bench on the tree-lined road that led to the front gates. She remembered it as the place where Sasuke had thrown callous words at her in the early days of Team Seven.

Shaking her head, she smiled and thought of her teammates. Tomorrow, she was going to get up extra early and prepare snacks for a picnic. She would then proceed to drag the three of them to the secluded area of grassland that sat to the side of the Hokage monument and shove the food down their throats if need be. Naruto was excluded since he would eat anything.

And when they asked her why she was doing all of this, she would tell them quietly and sincerely with a soft smile on her face that she was doing it because she cared.

So, Sasuke could scoff and Naruto could splutter and blush and Kakashi could smile and read his orange book beneath a shady tree but she didn't care. They were Team Seven and they would _always _be together. She would make sure of it.

She thinks that it would be nice if they all ended up as jounin one day and could bring all their genin teams together and teach them. Sasuke would show off with his Dragon Flame Jutsu and then Naruto, not one to be out-done, would use his Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu and then they would argue and she would laugh and then save the children's innocence by knocking Naruto out before he thought about showing off his 'signature' technique.

Or maybe, they would join ANBU and be in the same squad. Sasuke would be the captain, naturally. And after a mission in a far-off country, they'd come back to the village; sweaty and hungry but overall very satisfied and they'd head to Ichiraku's since it was nearby and Naruto is moaning and he offers to pay because the mission was back-breakingly hard and they all deserve a treat. Sasuke would roll his eyes and mutter under his breath about ramen not being a treat but then he'd look at her and then he'd come along anyway because they were a team and if they had to do something then they'd do it_ together_.

Or they might flunk out of being ninja altogether, buy an apartment next door to Ichiraku's and pig out on ramen for the rest of their days. Maybe Naruto could still become Hokage if he could be bothered, and Sasuke might lift a finger to try and revive his clan and strangle Itachi with noodles. They'd be together when they died at fifty from indigestion. An unlikely path but you never know. She could see Lee weeping tears over her grave, mumbling about her lost youth among other things.

But she hoped, whatever happened, that they would be together. Maybe Sasuke _would _kill Itachi one day. Maybe Orochimaru would choke on his own tongue. Maybe Naruto would realise that Hinata likes him. Maybe Sasuke would ask her on a date. Maybe.

Standing up, Sakura sighed and stretched, before walking away from the bench, in the direction of her house, where her poor mother would be pulling her hair out in worry and had probably already called Kakashi to yell at him. Her Inner self grumbled about him deserving it anyway.

A chilled wind blew past her causing her to shiver and wrap her arms around her body. She looked up to the overcast sky and the now hidden stars.

It looked like a storm was coming and she hadn't even realized it. She bit her lip.

When had it become so cold?

* * *

Change is an inevitable part of life. Things that are presumed stable; collapse. Bonds; break and choices; made. And a river of tears would flow along the path of destiny.

It was the beginning of the end.

* * *

_Together: For friendship and bonds that are never truly broken._

Team 7 Forever!


End file.
